Road, Rail & Access Issues

[TheLocalYokel]

The Conservative's are now calling for the T9 bus which provides a direct link between Cardiff Airport and the city centre to be scrapped after they found out £1.5 million has been spent on it since it started. Barry residents dub it the 'Ghost Bus' and the 'Empty 9'. Think the problem is many can't understand why they can't use the bus as it doesn't stop in the Barry area and is essentially a direct service. If it was scrapped what would replace it? It and the rail link need to be advertised more to get more people using them.

www.barryanddistrictnews.co.uk/news/15049677.Controversy_continues_over_Cardiff_Airport_T9_bus/?ref=fbshr

This bus has been a controversial service since the WG initiated it.

Had they funded the bus through their airport company it might not have been so controversial to residents who have seen their own local bus services reduced around the country, and saw the government (in their eyes) using money for the airport bus that could have been used for local bus services.

If the airport company had funded it there could be no argument about money being removed from other bus services, even though the WG may not have done so.

The WG was obviously concerned that an airport company-funded bus service would have put more debt against the airport company meaning it would take that much longer to arrive at profitability.

It's really down to the WG to convince voters and political opponents that the money spent on this bus service is justified. There has to be bus connectivity and if no private operator will take it on as a commercial venture a publicly subsidised services is the only alternative.

Because of the peaks and troughs of the airline scheduling it is inevitable that there will be occasions when the buses are very lightly loaded. The Bristol Airport Flyer is no different even though BRS handles six times as many passengers as CWL. The difference is that the Bristol Flyer is funded by the airport, albeit operated for them by First Bristol buses and crews under contract. This has always been the case since the Flyer started around 20 years ago when BRS was handling less than 2 mppa. It was probably loss-making in the early days but I suspect now turns a decent profit for the airport but there was never any public money involved.

 

[Jerry]

Yes it has. Hopefully in the future the airport might be able to take over the cost or maybe they could include a stop on the near on Port Road. It actually might make the service more sustainable in the future.

 

[Jerry]

Proposals for 12 new train stations to be built in Wales. 3 of them are proposed for Cardiff. Ely/Victoria Park, Newport Road/Rover Way and St.Mellons. The eastern part of Cardiff doesn't have any train access at all, the only public transport for that part of Cardiff is by bus. A new train station in this part of Cardiff would make it much quicker for people to access the city centre and the airport itself.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/could-12-new-railway-stations-12954992

 

[Jerry]

Photos from the airport's Twitter site which detail which roads are closed over the weekend.View attachment 5284 View attachment 5285 View attachment 5284

 

[Jerry]

View attachment 5564 The T9 Cardiff Airport Express service will now be free on weekends now! As will all the other Traws Cymru services across Wales.

 

[Jerry]

Potentially good news for the airport and the St Athan enterprise zone. A link road from the M4 to Cardiff Airport is being considered as part of the Cardiff Region city deal. Estimated cost of £90-100 million and if does get built coming from Junction 34 of the M4 there is the potential of a new train station (at J34) with a park and ride facility of which several are proposed across the city. There could also then be the possibility of an express bus to the airport from that station as its on the mainline.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/busine...D=ios_WalesOnlineNewsApp_AppShare_Click_Other

 

[Tinkerman]

Looking at his proposals, then that would involve dualling around a 13km section of the road that travels through Hensol, north of the A48 prior to intersecting said road before heading towards Rhoose. The Vale of Glamorgan residents would never, ever allow this so therefore it's pretty much a non-starter, look at how long it has taken to get the M4 proposals to where they are, albeit this is less contentious but the WG could have some unhappy residents (albeit conservative voters) on their hands.

Nothing is impossible though and if the WG did want to press ahead with this there would likely be a large number of CPO's along that route.

 

[superking]

Reports on tv this morning tolls on the severn bridges will be scrapped next year.That will help airport as well as firms that has bases in wales. Every little helps.

 

[Tinkerman]

Indeed Superking.

Severn Bridge Tolls to be scrapped by 2018. A great boost for the South Wales economy and CWL.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It ought to help the entire Severnside region, although South Wales will be the main beneficiary. A downside will probably be that house prices in south-east Wales will begin to rise noticeably as even more people move from the Bristol area, where house prices are very high, with the ability to commute daily without the expense of bridge tolls. Already many people have moved across the bridge to take advantage of lower house prices whilst commuting to Bristol for work, with more and more people moving to the Bristol area from London and its region where house prices are even higher.

I'm not sure that the scrapping of the bridge tolls in themselves will make that much difference to CWL, or BRS for that matter. I wonder how many people from the West Country don't use CWL because of the tolls with the same applying to South Wales residents and BRS. Very few I would have thought.

What is likely to benefit CWL in the long run is an upturn in the South Wales economy based on bridge tolls disappearing with more companies likely to be setting up in South Wales.

 

[Jerry]

A downside will probably be that house prices in south-east Wales will begin to rise

On twitter Nick Servini who is the BBC Wales Political Editor said that a woman ran up Radio Wales this morning and said that for her type of home prices have gone up by £50,000 after Theresa May announced it.

 

[superking]

On twitter Nick Servini who is the BBC Wales Political Editor said that a woman ran up Radio Wales this morning and said that for her type of home prices have gone up by £50,000 after Theresa May announced it.

Time to sell then.

 

[Jerry]

Wales Online have down an article on the new trains that will be introduced on the Great Western Mainline and if they continue the competition for the LCY flights.They look quite smart but i'd still prefer a Dash!
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/new-trains-going-travel-south-13388632

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I suppose the trains score with most people because of their frequency. Against that the overcrowding at certain times of the day is chronic and I doubt that the new trains in themselves will do much to alleviate that, even if they are a bit bigger than the old HSTs.

Getting on a train west out of Paddington at any time between mid/late afternoon and early/mid evening can be a nightmare as I've found to my dismay a few times in recent years. I'm just thankful that I'm not a commuter.

 

[Jerry]

I suppose the trains score with most people because of their frequency. Against that the overcrowding at certain times of the day is chronic and I doubt that the new trains in themselves will do much to alleviate that, even if they are a bit bigger than the old HSTs.

Getting on a train west out of Paddington at any time between mid/late afternoon and early/mid evening can be a nightmare as I've found to my dismay a few times in recent years. I'm just thankful that I'm not a commuter.

In a way i am too. I've heard dreadful stories about the Valley Lines with people being left on the platform and crammed in like sardines. I will admit i enjoyed the journey i did home from Leeds the other week both the Horsforth to Leeds and the trans pennine were busy but not crammed and i did notice a lot of the passengers on the journey from Leeds to Manchester were heading to MAN. The Arriva trains service was pretty quiet and it was a nice journey, the carriage only filled up for the Newport to Cardiff leg. i would've swapped it all for an aircraft though even if i had to pay a bit more.

 

[Jerry]

The Severn bridges will become publicly owned on the 8th January 2018 and the tolls should be scrapped by 31st December 2018.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-40888169

 

[superking]

The Severn bridges will become publicly owned on the 8th January 2018 and the tolls should be scrapped by 31st December 2018.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-40888169

12 months to transfer over,seems a long time. Still least they get extra 12 months of tolls out of us all.

 

[Jerry]

12 months to transfer over,seems a long time. Still least they get extra 12 months of tolls out of us all.

It could be earlier. Guessing it's a case of how long it takes and when they can schedule the works to demolish the toll booths themselves at both bridges.

 

[Jerry]

Looks like their is a dispute between the UK government and the Welsh government which could set back rail improvements and the proposed Metro and any potential future link to Cardiff Airport.
Wales Online have got hold of a leaked letter from the UK government Transport Secretary Chris Grayling blaming Welsh civil servants for failing to address major issues to move forward with the new franchise and the operator would be responsible for implementing a lot of the upgrades and the new Metro's. He has sited several areas of concern.

• A finalised written document setting out how the transfer of ownership of the Core Valleys Lines has not been received, and the Welsh Government and Network Rail are in dispute over the plans;
• Welsh and UK civil servants have not agreed a protocol over how the Welsh Government will exercise powers over English railways stations served by the Wales and Borders franchise;
• The Welsh Government is asking for an extra £1bn over the course of the franchise for which Mr Grayling says “I see no basis”;
  
  
• There remains a dispute over payments [the letter does not make clear the nature of the payments].

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/damning-leaked-letter-reveals-huge-13472362

The formal start of the bidding process for a new franchise operator was supposed to be launched on 18th August but is now been delayed by 6 weeks till 26th September and it has been warned there could be more delays.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Are they still seeking to electrify the Valleys lines now that the the main line between Cardiff and Swansea has been taken out of electrification?

Given that the reason for taking this section out (and that between Bristol and Bath for that matter) was that trains could not take advantage of maximum speeds there, the same would apply to the Valleys lines but even more so.